Studies over the past decade at the University of Utah show that hands-free cellphones are just as harmful to drivers as hand-held ones because it is the conversation, not the phone, that is distracting(分散) their attention. "Even though your eyes are looking right at something, when you are on the cellphone, you are not as likely to see it," says Professor David Strayer. " Ninety-nine percent of the time, it's not that critical(危急的), but that 1% could be the time a child runs into the street," he adds. Dr. Strayer's studies have also found that talking on a cellphone is far more distracting than talking with a passenger. Listening to the radio, to music or to a book on tape also isn' t as distracting, because it doesn't require the same level of interaction as a conversation. But even drivers may miss some details of a book on tape if their attention is focused on driving tasks. Some people can train themselves to pay extra attention to things that are important—like police officers learn to search faces in crowds. And the Utah researchers have found a rare group of "super-taskers"—about 2.5% of the population—who seem able to attend to more than one thing with ease. Many more people think they can effectively do several things at the same time, but they are really turning their attention rapidly between two things and not getting the full effect of either. Clearly, it is easier to put some tasks together than others. "Not all distractions are the same," says Dr. Strayer. Things like cleaning and working out can be done automatically (自动地) while the mind is focused elsewhere. But doing homework and texting at the same time isn' t possible. Even talking and watching TV is difficult. "Just try talking with your wife while watching football. It's impossible," jokes Dr. Strayer.

What are these two people talking about?

Robert Spring, a 19th century forger(伪造者), did well in his job that he was able to make his living for 15 years by selling false signatures of famous Americans. Spring was born in England in 1813 and arrived in Philadelphia in 1858 to open a bookstore. At first he made some money by selling his small but real collection of early US autographs (亲笔签名). Discovering his ability at copying handwriting, he began to learn the signatures of George Washington and Ben Franklin and write them on the title pages of old books. To reduce the chance of being discovered, he sent his works to England and Canada for sale. Forgers have a difficult time selling their products. A forger can't go to a respectable buyer but must deal with people who don' t have much knowledge in the field. Forgers have many ways to make their works look real. For example, they buy old books to use the aged paper of the title page, and they treat paper and ink with chemicals. After the Civil War, Britain was still fond of the southern states, so, Spring invented a respectable lady known as Miss Fanny Jackson, the only daughter of General "Stone Wall" Jackson. For several years Miss Fanny's money problems forced her to sell a great number of letters belonging to her famous father. Spring had to work very hard to satisfy the demand. All this activity did not prevent Spring dying in poverty.

Alan felt totally lost on the beach________with hundreds of holiday makers.

What do the Hoffmans do for a living?

Why does Jane want to leave her present job?

McEvan' s Supermarket to Mark its Twentieth Anniversary (纪念日) on October 24 ! We would like you to join us on October 24. On this special day, we will be giving you even more ways to save. And there will be live music, some free food, and games for children throughout the day. There are more reasons than ever to come to McEvan's on October 24. We will offer: great discounts on hundreds of things from nearly every department, including the bakery, the dairy(奶制品) farm, fruit comer, the vegetable garden and electronics center. discount vouchers(代金券) for $10. 00, $15.00, or $20.00 to the first 100 customers. McEvan's Supermarket games for children whose parents are shopping that include free T-shirts and other giveaways. To learn more about the special events planned for October 24, go to our website at www. mcevan-supermarket, com or ask any one of our 200 employees for more information. Please tear the voucher out. Happy 20th! McEvan' s Supermarket October 24 only $20.00 discount Please present to cashier at time of shopping Title________ First Name________Last Name________ Mailing Address (including apt. number) ________ City________State________Zip Code________ Would Like to Receive Mail from McEvan' s?____yes____no Specials and Information through Email?____Yes____No E-mail Address________ We promise to keep your information to ourselves. It will not be sent to any third party. In the event that your own information changes, please call us at (520) 555-0318 or email us at info@mcevansupermarket. com .

Why has the man hardly seen the woman lately?

How many languages has Dr. Green's new book been translated into?

We may look at the world around us, but somehow we manage not to see it until whatever we've become used to suddenly disappears.【C1】______ , for example, the neatly-dressed woman I【C2】______ to see—or look at—on my way to work each morning. For three years, no matter【C3】______the weather was like, she was always waiting at the bus stop around 8:00 a. m. On【C4】______ days, she wore heavy clothes and a pair of woolen gloves. Summertime【C5】______ out neat, belted cotton dresses and a hat pulled low over her sunglasses.【C6】______ , she was an ordinary working woman. Of course, I【C7】______ all this only after she was seen no more. It was then that I realized how【C8】______ I expected to see her each morning. You might say I【C9】______ her. "Did she have an accident? Something【C10】______ ?" I thought to myself about her【C11】______ . Now that she was gone, I felt I had【C12】______her. I began to realize that part of our【C13】______ life probably includes such chance meetings with familiar【C14】______ : the milkman you see at dawn, the woman who【C15】______ walks her dog along the street every morning, the twin brothers you see at the library. Such people are【C16】______ markers in our lives. They add weight to our【C17】______ of places and belongings. Think about it.【C18】______ , while walking to work, we mark where we are by【C19】______ a certain building, why should we not mark where we are when we pass a familiar, though【C20】______ , person?

Where does the conversation probably take place?

阅读下面的对话，根据其内容写一篇有关Emma周末经历的记叙文。要求：1．所写短文应与对话相关内容意义相符，涵盖其要点。2．用你自己的语言来表达，可以改写对话中的句子，但不可以照抄原句。Emma: Good morning, George! How was your weekend?George: Quite uneventful, I am afraid. I just stayed at home and took a good rest. What about you? Emma: Oh, I hope I could say that. I feel I've been running around for the past two days and now I'm so tired. George: What did you do? Emma: A friend came to see me on Friday and I went to the airport to meet him after work. We had dinner at a French restaurant. George: Wow, that's lovely! I never eat out these days.Emma: It's quite good. I could take you there sometime. And then we went to see a musical, the Q Avenue, at the International Meeting Center. So I came home quite late, but I still have an exam on Saturday! George: Oh. What exam? Emma: The Japanese Language Proficiency Test; you know I've been learning Japanese for some time. George: Did it go well? Emma: I'm not sure. I did the best I could. Then on Sunday, I had an appointment with my doctor. George: Is everything all right?Emma: Everything is fine. It's just a regular physical check. George: Seems like you had quite a busy weekend.

请你写一封邀请信，代表大连大新化学药品公司董事会(Board of Dalian Daxin Chemicals Corporation)邀请Mr．Chapman来本公司参加10周年纪念活动，时间从8月1号到3号。同时告诉他将安排一次他与总经理的见面会谈，商讨双方来年的合作事宜。 注意：词数80词左右。

I don't need any help, Polly, but it was nice of you to________.

I phoned him twice and_______messages, but he never returned my call.

Where does the speaker come from?

阅读下面的对话，根据其内容写一篇有关该调查的说明文。要求：1．所写短文应与对话相关内容意义相符，涵盖其要点。2．用你自己的语言来表达，可以改写对话中的句子，但不可以照抄原句。注意：词数80词左右。 Tina: What are you reading, Chris?Chris: A report about a recent Harris poll. They asked people in different countries how they spend their spare time. Tina: Sounds interesting. But I spend so much time working that I don't have much time left for leisure activities. Chris: Exactly. The report says the average working hours for Americans is 50 hours a week. Tina: And we also have to sleep, eat, and take care of our families. Chris: Still, having time to relax and pursue your hobbies is important. Tina: Yeah, I agree. So what do people do in their free time? Chris: Americans read the most in their spare time. Tina: Yeah, you can often see people with books on the subway or while waiting for the bus. Chris: The NO. 2 popular activity is watching TV. Tina: I totally understand that. Don' t you just want to sit there and let go of all complicated thoughts? Chris: Right. People in the U. K. also ranked watching TV and videos as their favorite spare time activity. The next thing they love is listening to the radio. Tina: Oh, the British. They love their radios. Chris: And they love their pubs, too. Their favorite outdoor activity is going to the pub.

Jumanji is a story for children about a very strange game—a game that becomes far too real and frightening for the players. It was a story by Chris Van Allsburg, which was later filmed in 1996, starring the famous American actor Robin Williams. The story begins in 1869 in New Hampshire, America. Two young brothers bury a box under some trees. A hundred years later, in 1969, a boy, Alan Parrish, finds the box and takes it home. He' s unhappy that his father may want to send him to a boarding school (寄宿学校). Alan's friend Sarah arrives, and they open the box. Inside is a board game. At the start of the game, some words appear: " Do you want to leave the world behind and go back to the past? Then this is the game for you. " Suddenly Alan finds that he is disappearing into the game. The story has a deep meaning. Through his adventures Alan learns something important—if you confront(面对) your fears, your problems will go away. Alan turns to face Van Pelt, the hunter who is trying to kill him. In doing so, he completes the game and returns to reality. Then he finds that his father is not going to send him to boarding school after all. In Jumanji, time is "elastic" . The film director Stephen Spielberg's "Back to the Future" films play with time in the same way. Top scientists even tell us now that time travel is theoretically (理论上) possible!

It is late at night and you are still awake. Should you take a sleeping pill(药片) ? People who take medicine often come to depend on it. So you lie awake knowing that the new work day will soon arrive. If this happens to you for at least one month, you may have insomnia, or sleeping problems, at an early stage. There are millions of you...us...around the world. A new study led by Eric Nofzinger and Daniel Buysse of the University of Pittsburgh Medical School has found that you might fall asleep quicker and stay asleep longer if you try "cerebral hypothermia" , which just means cooling down your brain. They examined twelve people who had insomnia and twelve others who had no sleep problems. Each of them wore a soft plastic cap on their heads at bed time. The caps had tubes (软管) inside filled with water. The researchers moved the water through the tubes and then changed the temperature of the water. As other studies showed that people who had trouble sleeping often had more chemical reactions (反应) in the front of their brains, the researchers thought lowering the temperature of the brain might help. For the first two nights of testing, the patients wore no water caps. During the next two nights, the caps were worn, but the water was not cooled. Then the researchers cooled the water a little for two nights. On the final two nights of the study, the temperature of the water was made much cooler. The researchers found that the water caps did not help the insomnia patients until the temperature was about 14℃. Most of the patients fell asleep faster and slept better when the coolest water was moving around their heads.

What happened to the shop in one month?